4th – 10th of October

We left Uusikaupunki for Szczecin in Poland with a cargo hold full of NPK fertilizer.

As you can remember we really had lovely weather in Finland but as soon as we started sailing south, the wind increased and of course was coming from the south. Have you not noticed that the wind usually comes from where you have to go? Maybe it is me but….

When sailing on Europa or Gulden Leeuw, you have to use the wind if you want to sail so it is probably one of the only things that take all your focus: wind direction and strength to anticipate sail area and manoeuvres and try to reach your destination only using the wind only. Since I sail on cargo ships, I tend to check the weather forecast less. We do not download a grib file every 4 hours, but keep an eye on the general picture to know what to expect when sailing out of the harbour of course. But We still go with winds against, and with wind 6 or 8 Bft. It doesn’t mean it is always nice, but as long as it is safe (which it is for our type of vessels!) then we go!

Most of the time we will reduce the engine reps and accept to be slower than what we would like ( I mean….it is not like if we are a super fast vessel either….). Sometimes we also have to adjust slightly our course too. We want to avoid having big waves hitting the bow because they only make damage and stop the ship every time she wants to move forward!

This time sailing south, was not such heavy heavy weather, but was a good 35 knots of wind for a good day and increasing to 40 knots now and then. There were waves and wind and rain. Everything to please me.

To be honest, when arriving in Szczecin, I thought the rain would still be there but no! The front had passed and it was clear!

To sail to Szczecin, you first have a 4-hour river voyage under pilotage: we must have a pilot on board. Most of the time they are happy with steering themselves so we can just enjoy the ride – and be there for serving coffee haha – oh yes and of course be responsible on the bridge, in case the autopilot fails for example or reducing speed etc… The pilot is not familiarized with the ship itself so we do always need to be on the bridge with him ( or her – I think I have never been with a woman pilot onboard yet…. But I know they are out there!!)

In the morning when opening the hatches at 5 am, I was pretty glad it was clear with stars and dry. I knew we were probably going to discharge with two cranes so I opened forward and aft only a few hatches just to make sure I « controlled » where they would grab the cargo from. Sometimes crane drivers just pick from where ever because they do not listen to you and it is quite annoying because you have to be able to adjust with filling the ballast tanks too.

While you discharge you take « weight » out of the ship and it needs to be replaced by another “weight” for the ship to keep her stability while entirely discharged. Otherwise, you would risk capsizing and if not, simply putting the whole vessel in danger.

Most of the Yara loading ports cover their fertilizer with plastic. I had already discharged steel coils in another quay in Szczecin, but never fertilizer yet. The cranes usually just grab the plastic out of the ship and put it on the quay somewhere aside. This time, for the first time I saw the workers taking the same plastic and fixing it from the side of our railing toward the quay. This way if cargo came to fall off from the grab ( which usually happens a bit) then it would not fall in the water but the plastic. I was quite surprised to see that and thought it was very good. Very often as sailors we can get pretty frustrated because, on board, we have to label and sort all our garbage and washing water and not pump overboard; everything should be retained and in the meantime you sea the harbours just spraying off the quays with a big hose or rinsing the grabs in the harbour water like if it were normal. I am often surprised how rules are not the same for ports and ships….

Anyways. Plastics out, hatches open, no rain expected and there I thought we would be out within the end of the day. But nope. I was wrong. The fertilizer was directly put into bags and forklifts were bringing them into some parts of the harbour. It was like a mini-industry on the quay. But because of that, it was going slow. We are used to trucks being loaded and that they come and go and most of the time by the end of the day we can already have the bobcat in and start sweeping.

Not this time.

We were still there this whole next day. But hey. What can we do right? No danger? No rain? Everything going smoothly? Perfect. On the second day, I was a bit nervous because after opening all the hatches there was so much fog for a couple of hours. I could barely see the foremast. Fertilizer is a sensitive cargo and it should not get wet; any droplets, droplets, drops or signs of water, I should be closing the hatches. But it was only the visibility that was gone. The air was dry, I stayed outside to make sure I would be in time to close. But no rain. As soon as the sun came out, it was beautiful again.

I must say that I enjoy a lot the sunsets and early mornings. When everything is still quiet and all are sleeping, slowly the world starts up and the sun comes out, it is quiet and then because busy. It gives me time to enjoy the moment: a cup of coffee and just be there outside for the cargo. Just the cargo and only the cargo. It is my « only » important duty in the harbour: the cargo operations. Things can go wrong very fast if you do not pay attention.

The fertilizer was finally discharged by the end of the next morning and we could take time to clean the hold again for our next cargo. The very cool thing was that with hatches open, the hold dries very fast. It was still a nice 18 degrees outside so perfect weather. In the wintertime it is way more difficult to dry the hold: you really need time between the two cargoes to put on the air dryer when necessary; otherwise, it is impossible to be ready for the next harbour.

And our next harbour was…. Svetlyy! Close to Kaliningrad in Russia!

It was just a big day sailing there so the next day we arrived at the channel entrance and it was perfect timing to get the pilot on board and be in the inbound convey. That is how it works there: convey in, convey out, during the day or the night. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes you are not and you have to wait for the next convey. It is a bit annoying because Ethen they put you on a waiting berth, then you need a pilot for that ( of course) and there is the Russian administration, with the face check so if you are sleeping because you were on night watch then it is just inconvenient…

But again. What can you do? It is the Russian administration take it or leave it. We took it – or were asked to take it – I believe no one is happy to go to Russia: no roaming, gangway watch, crazy immigration and customs paperwork, language barrier…

Last year around the same time we were also there to load the same cargo for the same destination port: Uusikaupunki (again). Although there was a lot of shifting berth this time, I must say it went quite smoothly: arriving on the waiting berth, waiting 10 hours, shifting to the loading berth, waiting 5 hours, starting loading (great weather all hatches open – perfect conditions – we could do some good maintenance because of that!), loading very slowly for 24hours, shifting to the waiting berth and finally waiting 5 hours for immigration to come…. The pilot was already all morning onboard. But we made it for the outbound convey so…. Just in time! 😉 That was an easy Sunday half in harbour, half at sea, but all ready to go.

I like weeks like this. It keeps you busy in a good way. I like being productive without being in a hurry. The only thing is that I would like to have a bit longer trips because these are all short trips that knock you out because you do not get into a rhythm and your sleeping schedule is ruined…. So if anyone out there could do something about it, please?

Just kidding. It is fine… for the moment.

Now I am looking forward to a nice Uusikaupunki discharging… hopefully with good weather again. It really helps!

Fingers crossed! See you next week!! 

Xxx Sophie